Walk-off home run
In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run which ends the game. It must be a home run that gives the home team the lead in the bottom of the final inning of the game - either the ninth inning, any extra inning, or any other regularly-scheduled final inning. It is called a "walk-off" home run because the teams walk off the field immediately afterward. Sportscasters also use the term "walk-off double" or other such terms if such a hit drives in the winning run to end the game. The terms walk-off hit by pitch or walk-off balk have been applied, and the latter has been dubbed a balk-off (these types of questionable walk-offs are seen by some fans as cheapening the concept). Although the concept is as old as baseball, the term itself has come into use only in the last few decades and can apply to softball as well. History and usage of the term 's famous walk-off home run at Forbes Field to win the 1960 World Series]] According to Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe, the term was first introduced by pitcher Dennis Eckersley, who coined it after giving up a "walkoff piece" to Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series Shaughnessy, Dan. June 24 2005. "Term covers all the bases". Accessed August 9 2006.. Although the term originally was coined with a negative connotation, in reference to the pitcher (who must walk off the field with his head hung in shame), it has come to mean a more celebratory term for the batter (who walks off with pride while drawing adulation from the crowd). The term attained widespread use in the late 1990s and early 2000s. On 22 occasions in major league history, all during the regular season, a player has hit a walk-off grand slam for a 1-run victory; 13 of those occasions came with the bases loaded and two outs. Some baseball observers call this an "ultimate grand slam" http://www.wcnet.org/~dlfleitz/gs.htm http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/news/2002/05/17/ultimate_grand_slams/. Famous walk-offs Walk-off home runs are uncommon enough to be dramatic when they occur, especially during the postseason. There have been seven major league postseason series that have ended in a walk-off homerun, including two World Series. The subject of the most famous walk-off home run in the history of the major leagues is one that creates a great deal of argument: * Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" which gave the New York Giants a National League pennant-winning victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in an October 3, 1951 playoff * The home run hit by Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning the 1960 World Series, breaking the tie in Game 7, against the New York Yankees. * The one hit by Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox off the left-field foul pole in the 12th inning to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, featured for many years in video slow-motion on NBC's Saturday afternoon Game of the Week broadcasts * Kirk Gibson's hobbled pinch hit 2-strike 2-out 2-run home run with his Los Angeles Dodgers trailing by one run and facing the Oakland A's Cy Young Award-winning closer Dennis Eckersley to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series * Joe Carter's 3-run blast over the left field wall in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series gave the Toronto Blue Jays an 8-6 win, a 4-2 series victory and their second straight World championship * Aaron Boone of the Yankees hit an 11th-inning blast to left field off of Tim Wakefield of the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS to win the American League pennant for the Yankees. Crossing home plate A technicality of the walk-off home run is that the game is not officially over until the winning run crosses home plate (in the case of a solo walk-off home run, the batter must round all the bases). This fact almost caused a serious problem in the 1976 ALCS when jubilant fans running onto the field at Yankee Stadium prevented Chris Chambliss from rounding the bases (the Yankees had not won the pennant in 12 years). Chambliss had to negotiate a sea of fans in order to place his foot in the area of home plate. Another example is Robin Ventura's "grand slam single" in the 1999 National League Championship Series. In the bottom of the 15th inning, the New York Mets tied the score against the Atlanta Braves at 3-3. Ventura came to bat with the bases loaded, and hit a walk-off grand slam to deep right. Roger Cedeno scored from third and John Olerud appeared to score from second, but Todd Pratt, on first base when Ventura hit the home run, went to second, then turned around and hugged Ventura, as the rest of the team piled onto the field. The official ruling was that because Ventura never advanced past first base, it was not a home run but a single, and thus only Cedeno's run counted, making the official final score 4-3. Postseason and All-Star Game World Series In the charts below, home runs which ended a postseason series are denoted by the player's name in bold. Follow the linked year on the far left for detailed information on that series. Other postseason series All-Star Game Regular season (selected examples) Other leagues Notes Category:Terminology Category:Records Category:Lore